UN Climate Change News, 23 March – Following the success of the virtual transparency processes held during the 2020 Climate Dialogues, UN Climate Change launched the Multilateral Assessment (MA) in March 2021 to assess developed countries’ progress toward their 2020 targets. In parallel, the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) for developing countries will soon start the preparatory phase to convene its tenth workshop in which Parties present updates on their climate actions and related needs and support.
Both processes involve a question and answer period for Parties whose Biennial Reports (BRs) or Biennial Update Reports (BURs) have already been reviewed or analyzed by a team of international experts.
During this question and answer phase, countries engage via the online platform to ask questions of clarification and share updates on their progress in implementing climate actions, based on information already reported to UN Climate Change. The written Q&A phase, which forms part of the broader International Assessment and Review (IAR) process (for developed countries) and International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) (for developing countries), has been in place since the first round of reports were submitted in 2014.
SBI Chair Marianne Karlsen (Norway) opens the first virtual session of MA during the 2020 Climate Dialogues
All 197 Parties to the UNFCCC can submit questions to the Parties as part of MA and FSV. For developed countries, the questions focus on progress in the implementation of actions to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) in relation to their quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets. For developing countries, the questions focus on the information reported in the biennial update reports (BUR), including GHG inventories, mitigation actions and support needed and received.
Together, the reporting, review and analysis processes of both developed and developing countries play a key role in promoting further climate actions and building mutual trust and confidence in taking those actions. These processes also form the foundation of the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement. Under the new arrangements, which will apply from 2024 onward, Multilateral Assessment and Facilitative Sharing of Views will be superseded by the Facilitative Multilateral Consideration of Progress, for all Parties to the Paris Agreement.
The MA Q&A opened on 8 March and will close on 5 April. The FSV Q&A will open on 1 April and close on 1 May. The overall process will then conclude with a working group session for MA and a mandated workshop for FSV.
The list of 20 countries to undergo MA at the next session includes: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Slovakia, and Spain.
The list of 15 countries to undergo FSV in 2021 includes: Afghanistan, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Benin, Botswana, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Oman, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Tajikistan and Uganda.
SBI Vice-Chair Abassador Yeaonchul Yoo (Republic of Korea) chairs a virtual FSV session during the 2020 Climate Dialogues
Following the working group session in 2020, for developed countries, a record of the session and a summary report for each developed country Party who completed MA is made available on the MA site. Following the workshop in 2020, for developing countries, the record of the session and summary reports will be made available on the FSV site.
For more information on Multilateral Assessment, please see here.
For more information on Facilitative Sharing of Views, please see here.
For more information on the Enhanced Transparency Framework, please see here.
